Afghan authorities slam NATO after drone strike kills 16 civilians

Afghan authorities have accused NATO forces of killing 16 civilians, including four children, in a drone strike targeting Taliban militants in the country’s Kunar province on the border with Pakistan.

"Hamid Karzai considers attacking women and children against
all accepted international norms and strongly condemns it,"
the office of the Afghan president said Sunday.

The incident occurred on Saturday when NATO drones destroyed a
pickup truck with civilians inside after its driver agreed to
give a lift to Taliban insurgents, provincial governor Shuja ul
Mulk Jalala said.

An earlier report listed that four women, four children, and four
men had been killed in the strike. The remaining four fatalities
were said to be Taliban militants.

"They shouldn't have attacked the truck because of three or
four insurgents, the lives of the civilians were more important
and precious," eyewitness Ziarat Gul said, describing the
NATO strike as "brutal."

The NATO command acknowledged that the strike took place, but
stated that the operation killed only militants – not civilians.

"We can confirm that we undertook a precision strike in
Watarpur district of Kunar, and are able to confirm 10 enemy
forces killed," spokeswoman for the NATO-led International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF), First Lieutenant AnnMarie
Annicelli, said.

Civilian deaths have been a long time source of tension between
the Afghan government and NATO forces.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has forbidden the country’s troops
from calling on foreign air strikes, but the ban is often
violated.

NATO crews are advised to abstain from air strikes in populated
areas.

According to UN data, over 1,000 civilians were killed in
Afghanistan in the first half of 2013 and another 2,000 injured.
This is a 23 percent increase in comparison with the same period
last year.

The situation of civilian deaths is so dire that Afghan
authorities, who are traditionally allied to NATO, “can’t
remain silent any longer,” investigative journalist Assed
Baig told RT.

“The civilian death toll over 10 years shows us that, look,
NATO isn’t winning in Afghanistan. That fighting the militants is
very, very difficult and that civilian casualties have been on
the increase,” Baig said. “Even though NATO calls them
precision attacks, they’re not very precise. Whether they’re in
Afghanistan or on the border regions of Pakistan, the civilians
are paying the cost of this war.”

Baig added that drone strikes have proven to be counterproductive
because they only lead to more people joining the ranks of the
Taliban.
“Since the occupation started, the Taliban has seen an increase
in support. It’s almost if their movement has revived,” he
said. “The civilians, the normal people, are looking for
someone to resist against the occupation. If you see an increase
in civilian casualties - if…homes are destroyed, people are
murdered, family members killed – they’ll turn to those people
who say, ‘Look, we can free you of this oppression.’”

According to the journalist, there is “no military solution
for Afghanistan” and NATO must start talking to the Taliban
because it is impossible to “bomb [insurgents] from the sky
without civilian casualties.”